Aug
18
2009
Finding the common ground
Final thoughts on Blog Camp before I parcel up the rest of the memories for myself and pop them in to an easily accessible corner of my mind.
Whilst driving home it suddenly struck me that I had been the only Brit attending the BBC (Brit Blog Camp); Kristina is Swedish and lives in Sweden, Blanca is Spanish but lives in England, Polly who isn’t Polly is Polish and lives in England, Julochka is American but lives in Denmark and Bee is American but also lives in England. So it was only dull schmull me who is English and lives in England. Quelle boring! At least I will have the benefit of being ’slightly’ exotic at Blog Camp 2.0 (or DBC..Danish Blog Camp?)
It was quite a revelation to be honest, I may even have cracked open the snacks to mark the moment (it was a long journey, I had to take my pleasures where I could get them). Clearly our diverse nationalities, one of the world’s greatest dividers (along with religion and the Barbie/Sindy issue), had been such a non ‘issue’ for our merry band that I’d entirely failed to notice it.
Why was that? Why was the single biggest ‘difference’ between us so invisible? Perhaps because everyone spoke excellent English (even the Americans, bless them)? Maybe we were all so consumed by the Love of Blog that we were too giddy to notice (not so, we hardly talked about blogging at all)? Did our Nikon Girls Group Smuggery get the better of us (very possibly)? I really don’t know the answer…all I can tell you is that we found the common ground and felt comfortable there, shared secrets and confidences, despite our diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds.
At this point it would be tempting to spin off in to some tedious diatribe about how World Peace could be achieved using Blog Camp as an inspiration (Ban Ki-Moon, listen in! Just get loads of Nikons for everyone, make some nice presents, go to the pub, gossip and…TA DA…WORLD PEACE!) but I’m not going there. That’s just a bit too worthy for a Tuesday evening, don’t you think? If it were Wednesday I would consider it.
I just want to know how we found our common ground, so quickly and effortlessly. I’ve wondered whether we all ’shaved’ bits off our personalities, curbed the ‘extremes’ of our nationalities. I can’t answer for the others, of course, but I don’t think I did. I often tone down my sarcastic sense of humour when among People From Foreign, and speak more slowly and cut out obvious cultural references and idioms … but I don’t think I did for Blog Camp, for whatever reason. I was just me and, I hope, they were just them and it happened to gel.
They went home knowing what ‘chavs’, ‘pikeys’ and ‘grockles’ are…I went home knowing what ‘funk’ and ’smack’ means in different ways that I knew before. We are all better people because of it I’m sure. More importantly, I went home knowing that IKEA isn’t a random brand name…it actually stands for something. Oh, life enrichment how I embrace thee! Also, us Brits pronounce Ikea all wrong. Even Julochka (an American) says it right, tush and fie.
I don’t have the answer, I don’t think there is one. I’m still slightly awed by our weekend together which, looking back, felt like suspended reality. All I know is that we found our common ground and, having photographed it 2,478,321 times, we loved it. And we want to go back.
and chippy. i learned chippy too.
you know what’s great about reading all of your BC posts? you captured something that i had felt but not yet been able to articulate.
we really rocked blog camp. and our nikons.
So eloquent spuddles! And to be honest I think you have the world peace thing cracked. Get the Danes to say huba buba as in the bubble gum, bloody hilarious.
‘Chavs’, ‘pikeys’ and ‘grockles’? Now I’m convinced I must go to Blog Camp 1.762 to find out the meanings of these words. And the actual meaning of IKEA? Oh, how can you tease us so with all these cryptic references!
So what does IKEA stand for and how is it to be pronounced (I hope I am saying it correctly).
I need to know about the correct pronunciation of Ikea. Please. And grockles…
Now thinking about the language of BLOG as a common denominator. (It’s so pleasurable to read about BBC. xx)
I, too, am desperate to know how to correctly pronounce IKEA. We all say “eye-key-uh”. Yes?
Ikea…well, us Brits say Eye-Key-Uh. But it should be Ick-ear. Interesting huh? And it stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (the initials of the founder, and the first letter of the farm he grew up on and the village he is from).
Grockles are tourists, I think it’s a West Country word?
x